It always surprises me when people who know me in ways other than the Internet are skeptical about the time I spend online or the relationships I’ve formed here. Let’s assess this… Without the Internet, there would be no Timothy James Beck novels, or the relationships with the editors who bought THE DEAL and THREE FORTUNES, not to mention my two Coventry books. I met my writing partners on the Internet, and theirs are three of the most vital friendships in my life. I wouldn’t know Steve C or Ron–or know that Ron is my cousin a few times removed. I wouldn’t know Rhonda or Lindsey or Sugar. Tim wouldn’t be living in Houston, he’d have no Rex, the dogs he’s fostered wouldn’t have received his unique care before going to loving forever homes. He wouldn’t know The Big H!
Y’all wouldn’t be reading this. I wouldn’t know you or interact with people from all across the U.S. and the world. The many writers who have inspired me and become my friends and acquaintances would be just names on book covers. There would be no FOOL FOR LOVE with all its funny/sad/quirky/amazing stories.
For me, it’s a no-brainer. The Internet, with all its hazards (we all read about the scams and disappointments weekly–and I’ve had a few unpleasant experiences, too), provides a powerful means of connection.
So when I was up late working and housekeeping on Saturday night and into the pre-dawn hours of Sunday morning, it was fun to follow, with thousands of people across the globe, the Tweets from Heather and Jon Armstrong (dooce.com and blurbomat.com) while she was in labor with their second daughter. I don’t know them, I just read their blogs and have for years, which makes them part of my daily life in that unique Internet way.
During the months of her pregnancy, Dooce provided a monthly shot of her expanding tummy. One of the last ones, a self-mocking portrayal of her very pregnant self with a beer tucked into her waistband, a cigarette hanging from her lips, a bag of powdered doughnuts ready to be stuffed into her overly made-up face under badly teased hair, became her most recent masthead. It was her response to the small percentage of people from among her million readers who criticize her life and mothering choices, and it still cracks me up whenever I go to her site.
It awed me that when she posted a photo of her newborn on Twitter, it received sixteen THOUSAND views in no time flat. Then I was dumbfounded by how many people didn’t understand that the first “name” the two proud parents provided–Lil Donette–was a joke based on her pregnancy photo. With the Internet, you take the crazy with the good.
Welcome to the world Marlo Iris Armstrong, and thank you for making June 14 a reason to be happy.
If you, my LJ readers who I’m always grateful to connect with, would like some sweet happiness of your own, please comment with a page number between 1 and 611, and another number between 1 and 25, and I’ll consult the happiness book for you.
You are always a ray of happy for me, Becky.
🙂
Happy Hump Day!
When you have the chance – I would love to adopt the happy found on page 58 – entry number 19, please.
🙂
Thanks! From the book:
“chandeliers”
Heh heh–should have been David’s!
LOL!
True…
😀
(But I love chandeliers, too. Especially that last one that David photographed. Set me off on a proper drool fest, it did…)
🙂
Thank-you!!
Sometime I’m going to have to find the chandelier store my mother and I passed one day. Looking through the window made us both gasp–it was one of those moments when two people see and react to a thing exactly the same way. Magic. If I find it, I’ll try to catch it in a photo for you.
Number 3 on page 347. Thank you. I’m grateful to the Internet for letting me “meet” some of my favorite writers too!
~~Melanie~~
Aw. Thanks. From the book:
“art training”
Oooooh Donettes! That’s what Lindsey and I ate during our all-night drive home from Florida — Donettes from the RaceTrac in Hammond, LA. They, combined with a Red Bull, will keep you awake!
So…page 10 entry 5, please.
Road food of champions! And from the book:
“Jamaica, Bermuda, or clamdigger shorts”
(I did not know that Jamaica shorts are called Jamaica shorts. Ding! New thing learned.)
Actually? Just Jamaica or Bermuda make me happy. Pass the Red Stripe!
But you’d look hot in any of those shorts, on or off the beach. =)
Your book has vexed me today … are they referring 3 different type of shorts? Because clamdiggers really aren’t shorts, and they certainly aren’t the same as Bermuda shorts…I think we need to call the author to clarify page 10 number 5…
I wrote you a fucking lengthy response to this. Why am I cursing? Because LJ backed me out before I could post it, and damned if I’m typing it again. You’ll have to wonder forever what I said. It was brilliant, of course.
I now question the validity of this book … it should be 13,999 things to be happy about.
Oh, for heaven’s sake. Here’s one definition of “shorts”:
Shorts are a garment worn by both men and women over their pelvic area, circling the waist, and covering the upper part of the upper legs or more, sometimes extending as far as mid-calf, but not covering the entire length of the leg, either as outer or undergarment.
If she were saying that clamdiggers are the same as Bermudas, there would have been no need to list them as separate names of garments serving as shorts. Google-image Jamaica shorts, Bermuda shorts, and clamdiggers, and you’ll see they have unique features. You’ll also see plenty of clamdiggers that are at the knee and not as long as Capri slacks, for example.
I think whatever you call them, they can certainly qualify as articles of clothing that make people happy. If the author wants to arbitrarily group them, it’s her prerogative.
I think, in fact, that you are less concerned that there may only be 13,999 things to be happy about, and wishing she’d have put Jamaicas, Bermudas, and clamdiggers in different categories, making it 14,002 things to be happy about. In which case, you are just greedy.
they should be three separate listings as they are three separate types of shorts. If we are going to be so loose and fast with the rules why not throw capris into the mix as well? I just think SOMEONE was taking the easy way out, and I’m not down with that.
Then write your own book titled “Marika the Greedy’s ___,000 Things To Be Happy About.”
I’ll be glad to use it for Hump Day Happy when it’s published.
I’m going with the title THE GREEDY GIRLS GUIDE TO HAPPINESS … and you are so getting an autographed copy.
I agree with the commenters above me. How about Page 63,#7.
Rick, OH
And thank YOU. From the book:
“a meaningful kiss”
Woohoo!
Hmmmm…. how ’bout page 84 #5, please.
Oh yeah…
“Without the Internet, there would be no Timothy James Beck novels, or the relationships with the editors who bought THE DEAL and THREE FORTUNES, not to mention my two Coventry books.” & “There would be no FOOL FOR LOVE with all its funny/sad/quirky/amazing stories.”
HEAVEN FORBID!!!!
Exactly.
Scoffers bobbing on the lead swell of a wave, historically, have always been wrong. That is why it is a wave, and missed.
♥
“words”
A perfect answer for all of us!
Perfect, indeed.
If it wasn’t for online communities I wouldn’t be living in London, in the flat I’ve been in for the past five years, in the job I’m in – and I wouldn’t have met my boyfriend. Nor would I have met you guys, read the TJB novels, or be enjoying Fool For Love right now. Sure, there are some dodgy characters out there, but, keeping oneself safe, the wheat one finds via sorting through the chaff is well worth finding.
Page 559, #13, please.
Very well said. And it’s not as if we can’t meet plenty of dodgy characters in ways other than the Internet, as well!
From the book:
“a box that slides neatly into an exact space”
t always surprises me when people who know me in ways other than the Internet are skeptical about the time I spend online or the relationships I’ve formed here.
I once came across this writer’s website who said she believed that any blogging on LJ was time away from when she could have been writing. My younger workaholic self would have fallen for that silly line of reasoning but not now. Just because I’m spending my time doing whatever during the day, it doesn’t necessarily mean that if I wasn’t doing whatever that I’d be productively at work on my writing projects. I’ve come to realize that we as humans don’t function like that. In order to be happy and healthy, we need to do stuff to be complete human beings. You can’t reduce yourself to this one dimensional being.
I’m also skeptical that online relationship are any less real than face-to-face relationships. It’s not like the people you see face-to-face don’t hide stuff from others or that people online aren’t being honest about who they are.
All good points. And the whole “time to write” thing is the subject of a post from me in the near future.
I’m typing this from the corner, shivering, thinking of a world without Wikipedia and photo-theft.
Can I have page 584, item # 2, please? : )
And being able to find all that old stuff on youtube! From the book:
“class books”
Thank you! : )
Do you need some? I’ve got some old grammar books I can send you. 😉
Hey! I’m self-concious enough as it is about my spelling; don’t be messing with my grammar confidence. : )
I was just trying to make shelf space, and you are no help–which is so unlike you. Do you have a fever?
Here, let me get that pesky chandelier out of your way…. >: )
You’ll draw back a nub.
I’m typing this from the corner, shivering, thinking of a world without Wikipedia and photo-theft.
I don’t see why you must be so deliberately seductive…
Stealing pictures is rather sexy.
Y’all wouldn’t be reading this. I wouldn’t know you or interact with people from all across the U.S. and the world. The many writers who have inspired me and become my friends and acquaintances would be just names on book covers. There would be no FOOL FOR LOVE with all its funny/sad/quirky/amazing stories.
And that’s the hokey-pokey. And that’s what it’s all about. :3 ♥
Hokey-pokey: One of the few “dances” whose steps I can follow. =)
It’s hard for me to tell Jeff that you can’t meet normal people on the internet when that’s how I met you guys. (Or are y’all the example I give for why you can’t meet normal people….) 😉
How about page 611, number 2 please!
Yes! I definitely think you should use us as cautionary tales!
And from the book:
“mini stripes”
What does that mean? Stripes on a Mini Cooper? A kind of fabric? Wallpaper? PRISON garb?!?
Or for that matter, with a nod to Mark G. Harris, stripes on Minnie Driver?
haha Best joke I ever told. : )
Normal is soooo overrated.
Page 104, number 17, if you please.
Normal is just a town in Illinois. =)
And from the book:
“Snoopy standing on a beach ball”
I have many, many things to be happy for today, but I strongly believe no one can have too much happiness.
So, I would like page 432 #12 please!
Thanks!
You know, Sunday wasn’t that great of a day for me, but reading YOUR post certainly improved it. I’m so happy about that final radiation treatment! =) You ARE a winner, in every way.
And the book says:
“mashed-potato sandwiches”
You can’t go wrong with double starch!
Now if they could be battered, deep-fried, and served with ranch dressing, that’d be about perfect! 😉
LAST! Could I have no 336, 5 thanks? (Please nothing as gross as mashed potato sandwiches lol!!!).
I’m not sure I’m into that mashed-potato sandwich idea either–though mashed potatoes are one of my favorites! From the book:
“someone calling to check on you when you’re sick”
I don’t like to comment too much, as I’m just a random fan, but I’m with you about the internet. I’ve learnt and discovered so much since I started out in 2003. I’ve read some amazing books and met some incredible people. It truly has enriched and enhanced my life.
Being an old(ish) fogey, I only wish there’d been something similar around when I was younger, but who knows what foolish things I may have got up to. ;D
Comment whenever you please and as often as you like, please.
I’d have loved having the Internet as a youngster, but I do regret that all this Caller ID and Star 69 and such have made prank calls damn near impossible. Those were the hijinks my friends and I got up to. WE WERE BORN TO BE WILD!
If it wasn’t for the internet I would never have met The Manfriend. I *heart* the internet!
Page 242, # 11 please.
Whew! Good thing I didn’t give my standard speech on the Internet: Great place to find friendship, lousy place to find love. (Though I know at least two couples who met online and have now been together more than ten years, so what do I know?)
And from the book:
“pooping out completely”
“… Without the Internet, there would be no Timothy James Beck novels …” scary to think of!!
“Y’all wouldn’t be reading this. I wouldn’t know you or interact with people from all across the U.S. and the world.” Indeed a powerful thing.
Nodding to both!
I heard something last night about you shooting puppies…
page 329 item 1
People say crazy things when they need a plumber.
From the book:
“jar cozies”
oo my inner computer geekdom
Without computers life for me would have been quite different too..
Now… if those donuts turned into smores, which for some reason I’m seriously craving melted dark dove chocolaty goodness… the computer geek on a chocolate and sugar frenzy picks 24 and 512
Re: oo my inner computer geekdom
Mmmm, smores. And from the book:
“switching places in bed with your partner”